Improvement in switches for street-railways



Switches for Street-Railways.-

JOHNSON.

No.l55,091.

Patented Sept. 15,1874.

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS.

TH! GRAPHIC C0. FHOTD-LITHJSII 4-! PARK FLAOEJLY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT L. JOHNSON, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN SWITCHES FOR STREET-RAILWAYS.

Specificationforming part of Letters Patent No. 155,091, dated September 15, 1874; application filed 4 December 1, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT L. JOHNSON, of New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway-Switches, of which the following is a specification:

Figure 1 is a top view of my improved switch. Fig. 2 is a detail vertical cross-section of the same, taken through line as .70, Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre-' sponding parts.

My invention has for its object to improve the construction of the railway switch described in Letters Patent No. 117,198, dated July 18, 1873, Thomas Newman, inventor, so as to make it more convenient in use, and more reliable in operation. The invention consists in the man-hole formed in the oscillating plate of a railway-switch, and provided with a cover, and in the two inclined slots formed in the switch upon the opposite sides of the free end of the tongue, as hereinafter fully described.

A represents the main track. B represents the branch track. 0 represents the switch; D, the tongue; E, the dummy, and F the oscillating plate, which is connected with the tongue D by a bracket, G, attached to the said oscillating plate and the connecting-bar H, so that the tongue D may be moved by the movements of the plate F.

The construction and operation of all these parts are fully described in Letters Patent No 117,198, and about them there is nothing new.

In the plate F is formed a man-hole, I, which is closed with a cover, J, so that by raising the said cover J ready access may be had to the pit beneath the plate F. Heretofore when it became necessary to get beneath the plate F for any purpose, a man-hole had to be dug in the roadway at the side of the track, and a trench or tunnel dug thence to the pit beneath the plate. All necessity for this labor and expense is wholly removed by my invention. In the switch 0, along the opposite sides of the free end of the tongue D, are formed two inclined slots, K, leading down into the pit, which is extended beneath the switch, so that the tongue D, as it is moved by the oscillations of the plate F, will push the dirt or snow out of the groove of the switch, thus preventing the possibility of the said tongue becoming clogged, and making the switch seli cleaning.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- I 1. The man-hole I, formed in the oscillating plate F, of a railway-switch, and provided with a cover, J, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. The two inclined slots K formed in the switch (1, upon the opposite sides of the free end of the tongue D, substantially as herein shown and described,

ALBERT L. JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

A. S. BECK, I ERNEST. 

